This book connects two central problems encountered by the Federal Republic of Germany prior to reunification in 1990, both of them rooted in the Second World War. Domestically, the country had to ...
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This book connects two central problems encountered by the Federal Republic of Germany prior to reunification in 1990, both of them rooted in the Second World War. Domestically, the country had to integrate eight million expellees forced out of their homes in Central and Eastern Europe as a result of the lost war. Externally, it had to reestablish relations with Eastern Europe, despite the burdens of the Nazi past, the expulsions, and the ongoing East–West struggle during the Cold War. This book shows how the long-term consequences of the expellee problem significantly hindered West German efforts to develop normal ties with the East European states. In particular, it emphasizes a point largely overlooked in the existing literature: the way in which the political integration of the expellees into the Federal Republic had unanticipated negative consequences for the country's Ostpolitik.Less

After the Expulsion : West Germany and Eastern Europe 1945-1990

Pertti Ahonen

Published in print: 2003-11-06

This book connects two central problems encountered by the Federal Republic of Germany prior to reunification in 1990, both of them rooted in the Second World War. Domestically, the country had to integrate eight million expellees forced out of their homes in Central and Eastern Europe as a result of the lost war. Externally, it had to reestablish relations with Eastern Europe, despite the burdens of the Nazi past, the expulsions, and the ongoing East–West struggle during the Cold War. This book shows how the long-term consequences of the expellee problem significantly hindered West German efforts to develop normal ties with the East European states. In particular, it emphasizes a point largely overlooked in the existing literature: the way in which the political integration of the expellees into the Federal Republic had unanticipated negative consequences for the country's Ostpolitik.

This introductory chapter demonstrates the centrality of the expellee problem for West Germany's political development. As a means to that end, it provides a long-term case study of a policy field in ...
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This introductory chapter demonstrates the centrality of the expellee problem for West Germany's political development. As a means to that end, it provides a long-term case study of a policy field in which the expellee issue's contribution was particularly significant: the Federal Republic's Ostpolitik — or policy toward Eastern Europe. The goal is to untangle a paradox that characterized West German Ostpolitik particularly until the early 1970s and, on a lesser scale, all the way to German reunification in 1990. The focus is on the complex interactions among expellee organizations, the main political parties, and Bonn's federal government. It examines the expellee lobby's efforts to pursue its revisionist agenda, highlighting the various channels through which the expellee activists exerted pressure on the country's political elites and the degree to which the latter responded to such pressure.Less

Introduction

PERTTI AHONEN

Published in print: 2003-11-06

This introductory chapter demonstrates the centrality of the expellee problem for West Germany's political development. As a means to that end, it provides a long-term case study of a policy field in which the expellee issue's contribution was particularly significant: the Federal Republic's Ostpolitik — or policy toward Eastern Europe. The goal is to untangle a paradox that characterized West German Ostpolitik particularly until the early 1970s and, on a lesser scale, all the way to German reunification in 1990. The focus is on the complex interactions among expellee organizations, the main political parties, and Bonn's federal government. It examines the expellee lobby's efforts to pursue its revisionist agenda, highlighting the various channels through which the expellee activists exerted pressure on the country's political elites and the degree to which the latter responded to such pressure.

This chapter analyses the emergence of an enduring pattern of Ostpolitik interaction among the expellee groups, Konrad Adenauer's government, and the main parties during the period preceding the ...
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This chapter analyses the emergence of an enduring pattern of Ostpolitik interaction among the expellee groups, Konrad Adenauer's government, and the main parties during the period preceding the Federal Republic's attainment of sovereignty in May 1955. The expellee organizations began to voice a variety of political demands immediately after their founding, with the most urgent calls centering on socioeconomic issues, which was not surprising considering the poverty and deprivation that afflicted most expellees in the early post-war years. Accordingly, the expellee groups soon began to promulgate a number of demands that remained standard features of their social policy agenda for years to come. As Bonn's political elites reacted to these demands, a complicated pattern of interaction between the expellee lobby, the government, and the main parties gradually took shape during the Federal Republic's formative years.Less

The Programmes and Strategies of the Expellee Organizations

PERTTI AHONEN

Published in print: 2003-11-06

This chapter analyses the emergence of an enduring pattern of Ostpolitik interaction among the expellee groups, Konrad Adenauer's government, and the main parties during the period preceding the Federal Republic's attainment of sovereignty in May 1955. The expellee organizations began to voice a variety of political demands immediately after their founding, with the most urgent calls centering on socioeconomic issues, which was not surprising considering the poverty and deprivation that afflicted most expellees in the early post-war years. Accordingly, the expellee groups soon began to promulgate a number of demands that remained standard features of their social policy agenda for years to come. As Bonn's political elites reacted to these demands, a complicated pattern of interaction between the expellee lobby, the government, and the main parties gradually took shape during the Federal Republic's formative years.

This chapter analyses West German politics from Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's era from the late 1950s to the Bundestag election of 1965 and the last months of Ludwig Erhard's government in 1966, with ...
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This chapter analyses West German politics from Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's era from the late 1950s to the Bundestag election of 1965 and the last months of Ludwig Erhard's government in 1966, with a special focus on the intensified scramble for expellee votes that took place in these years. The battle's immediate cause was the SPD's concentrated campaign to court this segment of the electorate, which, in turn, was part of the party's larger project of repositioning itself away from the traditional left towards the contemporary political centre. The resulting electoral tussle raised the stakes in expellee politics and seemingly brought the expellee lobby to new heights of political influence in the first half of the 1960s. However, these appearances were deceptive, for in reality the expellee organizations had by then entered a period of decline.Less

Ostpolitik Options and Expellee Influence, 1959–1966

PERTTI AHONEN

Published in print: 2003-11-06

This chapter analyses West German politics from Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's era from the late 1950s to the Bundestag election of 1965 and the last months of Ludwig Erhard's government in 1966, with a special focus on the intensified scramble for expellee votes that took place in these years. The battle's immediate cause was the SPD's concentrated campaign to court this segment of the electorate, which, in turn, was part of the party's larger project of repositioning itself away from the traditional left towards the contemporary political centre. The resulting electoral tussle raised the stakes in expellee politics and seemingly brought the expellee lobby to new heights of political influence in the first half of the 1960s. However, these appearances were deceptive, for in reality the expellee organizations had by then entered a period of decline.

This chapter traces key moments in the interaction between the expellee groups and West German political elites from the start of the new Ostpolitik in 1970 to German reunification two decades later. ...
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This chapter traces key moments in the interaction between the expellee groups and West German political elites from the start of the new Ostpolitik in 1970 to German reunification two decades later. The period was characterized by the continued decline of the expellee lobby's power. The backward-looking organizations found themselves increasingly isolated in West German public life, with ever more tenuous links to most of the political elites, the media establishment, and the general public, including the majority of rank-and-file expellees. The end of the road for the expellee lobby came in 1990, when Helmut Kohl's government finally abandoned its tactical manoeuvring and accepted a long-awaited reunification settlement, as a part of which Germany formally gave up all territorial claims towards Eastern Europe.Less

From the New Ostpolitik to Reunification, 1969–1990

PERTTI AHONEN

Published in print: 2003-11-06

This chapter traces key moments in the interaction between the expellee groups and West German political elites from the start of the new Ostpolitik in 1970 to German reunification two decades later. The period was characterized by the continued decline of the expellee lobby's power. The backward-looking organizations found themselves increasingly isolated in West German public life, with ever more tenuous links to most of the political elites, the media establishment, and the general public, including the majority of rank-and-file expellees. The end of the road for the expellee lobby came in 1990, when Helmut Kohl's government finally abandoned its tactical manoeuvring and accepted a long-awaited reunification settlement, as a part of which Germany formally gave up all territorial claims towards Eastern Europe.

This introductory chapter begins with a brief analysis of the New Ostpolitik and its initial result, the Moscow Treaty. It argues that the change in West German Ostpolitik resulted from various ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a brief analysis of the New Ostpolitik and its initial result, the Moscow Treaty. It argues that the change in West German Ostpolitik resulted from various interrelated factors, and can be accounted for only when both the specific German domestic structure and the global East-West environment with its intra-alliance dynamics are taken into account. Thus, this chapter shows, the book is based on the fairly innovative approach of integrating different levels of analysis, the political system, society, and international environment, into one model. This is followed by a discussion of scholarship on Ostpolitik. The book's contribution to Ostpolitik scholarship is then presented. The book's aim is to provide the first systematic analysis of the formulation and making of New Ostpolitik based on primary sources.Less

Introduction

Julia von Dannenberg

Published in print: 2008-01-10

This introductory chapter begins with a brief analysis of the New Ostpolitik and its initial result, the Moscow Treaty. It argues that the change in West German Ostpolitik resulted from various interrelated factors, and can be accounted for only when both the specific German domestic structure and the global East-West environment with its intra-alliance dynamics are taken into account. Thus, this chapter shows, the book is based on the fairly innovative approach of integrating different levels of analysis, the political system, society, and international environment, into one model. This is followed by a discussion of scholarship on Ostpolitik. The book's contribution to Ostpolitik scholarship is then presented. The book's aim is to provide the first systematic analysis of the formulation and making of New Ostpolitik based on primary sources.

This chapter presents the idea that the New Ostpolitik was both an integral part of and an independent force in German approach to Western détente policy. It could develop only in the context of the ...
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This chapter presents the idea that the New Ostpolitik was both an integral part of and an independent force in German approach to Western détente policy. It could develop only in the context of the international trend towards détente, but at the same time proved to be an independent policy of an economically and politically strengthened Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) that pursued German interests. This chapter discusses both the development from the ‘old’ to the ‘new’ Ostpolitik and its relation to international détente policy to provide a better understanding of the making of the Moscow Treaty as the start of New Ostpolitik.Less

Setting the Stage: From Confrontation to Détente

Julia von Dannenberg

Published in print: 2008-01-10

This chapter presents the idea that the New Ostpolitik was both an integral part of and an independent force in German approach to Western détente policy. It could develop only in the context of the international trend towards détente, but at the same time proved to be an independent policy of an economically and politically strengthened Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) that pursued German interests. This chapter discusses both the development from the ‘old’ to the ‘new’ Ostpolitik and its relation to international détente policy to provide a better understanding of the making of the Moscow Treaty as the start of New Ostpolitik.

The renunciation-of-force policy for which the Foreign Ministry prepared under Brandt's lead was implemented, and a treaty with Moscow concluded, only nine months after the formation of the new ...
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The renunciation-of-force policy for which the Foreign Ministry prepared under Brandt's lead was implemented, and a treaty with Moscow concluded, only nine months after the formation of the new government. Whatever the quality of the prior preparations, implementing this new ‘ostpolitical’ programme was still a very different matter from merely planning it behind the closed doors of the Foreign Ministry. This chapter addresses the policy-making processes within the domestic and international context. Specifically, it addresses the following questions: Given that the Ostpolitik that Brandt announced was so hotly contested, how could it be put into action so successfully and swiftly? Which actors, interests, and factors, within the government as well as outside it, played a role in the making of the Moscow Treaty? What were the goals and motives of the Brandt government in the policy under consideration?Less

‘Unpacking the Box’: The Making of the Moscow Treaty in the Domestic and International Contexts

Julia von Dannenberg

Published in print: 2008-01-10

The renunciation-of-force policy for which the Foreign Ministry prepared under Brandt's lead was implemented, and a treaty with Moscow concluded, only nine months after the formation of the new government. Whatever the quality of the prior preparations, implementing this new ‘ostpolitical’ programme was still a very different matter from merely planning it behind the closed doors of the Foreign Ministry. This chapter addresses the policy-making processes within the domestic and international context. Specifically, it addresses the following questions: Given that the Ostpolitik that Brandt announced was so hotly contested, how could it be put into action so successfully and swiftly? Which actors, interests, and factors, within the government as well as outside it, played a role in the making of the Moscow Treaty? What were the goals and motives of the Brandt government in the policy under consideration?

This concluding chapter presents a synthesis of discussions from the preceding chapters. It argues that the New Ostpolitik was the realization of Brandt's, and not Kiesinger's ‘ostpolitical’ agenda ...
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This concluding chapter presents a synthesis of discussions from the preceding chapters. It argues that the New Ostpolitik was the realization of Brandt's, and not Kiesinger's ‘ostpolitical’ agenda as devised during the Grand Coalition government. Ostpolitik was the work of only a handful of authors: Brandt, Bahr, and some other key advisers. The departments and actors formally in charge of foreign policy, most notably the Foreign Ministry, had little or no say in the execution of the new Eastern policy.Less

Conclusion

Julia von Dannenberg

Published in print: 2008-01-10

This concluding chapter presents a synthesis of discussions from the preceding chapters. It argues that the New Ostpolitik was the realization of Brandt's, and not Kiesinger's ‘ostpolitical’ agenda as devised during the Grand Coalition government. Ostpolitik was the work of only a handful of authors: Brandt, Bahr, and some other key advisers. The departments and actors formally in charge of foreign policy, most notably the Foreign Ministry, had little or no say in the execution of the new Eastern policy.

This chapter follows, through the Cold War up to the present day, the continuing and evolving German relationship with Eastern Europe. The different orientations of the Federal Republic of Germany ...
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This chapter follows, through the Cold War up to the present day, the continuing and evolving German relationship with Eastern Europe. The different orientations of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic are analyzed through their foreign policies, the building of the Berlin Wall, Ostpolitik, and the curious competition to appropriate Prussia's disputed historical legacy. The chapter concludes by taking stock of the state of the German myth of the East today, examining complexities of reunification and the persistent ‘wall in the minds’, especially in mutual antagonistic stereotypes of ‘Wessis’ and ‘Ossis’, so-called ‘Ostalgie’ (nostalgia for a lost eastern German state and society), and the paradoxical belated rise of a distinct East German national identity. The chapter ends with an assessment of the future of German relations with Eastern Europe, marked by issues like the challenges of the European Union's expansion and relations with the new Russia.Less

From the Cold War to the Present

Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius

Published in print: 2009-08-27

This chapter follows, through the Cold War up to the present day, the continuing and evolving German relationship with Eastern Europe. The different orientations of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic are analyzed through their foreign policies, the building of the Berlin Wall, Ostpolitik, and the curious competition to appropriate Prussia's disputed historical legacy. The chapter concludes by taking stock of the state of the German myth of the East today, examining complexities of reunification and the persistent ‘wall in the minds’, especially in mutual antagonistic stereotypes of ‘Wessis’ and ‘Ossis’, so-called ‘Ostalgie’ (nostalgia for a lost eastern German state and society), and the paradoxical belated rise of a distinct East German national identity. The chapter ends with an assessment of the future of German relations with Eastern Europe, marked by issues like the challenges of the European Union's expansion and relations with the new Russia.